Relocating to Australia as a UK or Irish GP: the complete guide

The big picture: two goals, three routes

Australia needs GPs, general practice is a recognised specialty there, and the door for UK and Irish-trained GPs is wider than it has been in years. The detail is where people get lost, so start with the shape of it. There are two registration goals you might aim for, and three routes that lead to them.

The two goals are general registration and specialist registration. General registration lets you practise medicine under supervision and conditions. Specialist registration recognises you as a specialist GP and is what most people actually want, because for GPs it is tied to independent Medicare billing rights. If your aim is to run your own list in your own clinic and bill Medicare, specialist registration as a GP is the target. Our guide to GP registration pathways explained walks through the difference in detail.

One framing helps before you go further: in Australia, general practice is its own specialty, with its own fellowship and its own training. You are not stepping down from hospital medicine into something lesser, and you are not aiming to become a hospital specialist. You are moving your existing GP expertise into a system that treats it as a recognised specialty in its own right. That single shift in mindset clears up a lot of the confusion UK and Irish doctors arrive with, because it changes the question from "how do I requalify" to "how do I get my qualification recognised". For most readers of this guide, recognition - not re-training - is the job.

The three routes are the expedited specialist pathway, the competent authority pathway, and college assessment. They are not equally good for everyone, and picking the wrong one costs months and thousands of pounds. Here is how they fork.

The headline story for this audience is the expedited specialist pathway, live since 21 October 2024. If you are not sure which bucket you fall into, our eligibility self-assessment is the fastest way to find out before you spend anything.

Choosing your registration pathway

The expedited specialist pathway is the single biggest change for UK and Irish GPs. It lets doctors with eligible qualifications apply directly to the Medical Board of Australia for specialist registration as a GP, without sitting RACGP or ACRRM fellowship exams. Instead of an exam, you complete a period of supervised practice plus orientation and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural safety education.

The qualifications usually accepted for GPs include MRCGP from the UK with a Certificate of Completion of Training, MICGP from Ireland with a Certificate of Satisfactory Completion of Specialist Training, and FRNZCGP from New Zealand. The exact awarded-from dates and conditions sit on the Medical Board's page and the Board updates them, so do not take a number from a recruiter or a forum: read the current expedited specialist pathway page and confirm your own qualification against it. Our deep-dive on supervised practice and orientation covers what those six-or-so months actually look like day to day.

If you do not meet the specialist criteria yet, the competent authority pathway is the other main door. The UK General Medical Council and the Medical Council of Ireland are recognised competent authorities, so this route avoids the standard Australian Medical Council exams. It leads to general registration after a period of supervised practice, not specialist registration, so it is a stepping stone rather than the destination for most. The third option, college assessment, runs through RACGP or ACRRM and is the honest fallback: more paperwork, more cost, more time, but a real path if the expedited route does not fit your qualifications. We compare the trade-offs in the cost breakdown and the timeline guide.

AHPRA, verification and English

Whichever route you take, you deal with two bodies. The Medical Board of Australia sets the rules; AHPRA, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, administers registration. Our guide to AHPRA and the Medical Board explains who does what, and the step-by-step application guide walks the form itself.

Two things trip people up early. The first is primary source verification. Your medical qualifications have to be verified at source through the Australian Medical Council, which uses the EPIC service run by Intealth. You create an account, build a credentials portfolio, and your degree is confirmed directly with the body that issued it. It takes time and it is worth starting early - see primary source verification and EPIC explained.

The second is English. For UK and Irish-trained doctors this is usually a non-issue, but not automatically. AHPRA's English language skills standard can be met through education taught and assessed in English in a recognised country, and the UK and Ireland are recognised countries. It is criteria-based, not a free pass by nationality, and the standard was updated, so check the current rule against your own history in our English language requirement guide rather than assuming.

You will also need to line up medical indemnity insurance and understand continuing professional development through a college CPD home. Here is the paperwork most people gather up front.

The colleges: RACGP and ACRRM

Australia has two GP colleges. The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) is the larger and covers general practice broadly. The Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) is built around rural and remote generalism, including extended skills like emergency and obstetrics. Even on the expedited pathway you will sit within a college framework for CPD, and the choice shapes the kind of work you grow into. Our RACGP vs ACRRM guide goes deeper; here is the short version.

If rural practice appeals, it is worth reading the rural generalist pathway and why rural Australia can be the smart move early, because where you work also drives the next big topic.

Where you can work: the moratorium and DPA

This is the part UK and Irish GPs most often miss until late, and it matters. Under section 19AB of the Health Insurance Act, overseas-trained doctors face a 10-year moratorium: for your first ten years you generally have to work in a Distribution Priority Area (DPA) to access a Medicare provider number and bill Medicare. It does not stop you working as a doctor; it restricts where you can work while billing Medicare. Read the full picture in the section 19AB guide and where overseas GPs can work.

DPA overlaps with, but is not the same as, the Modified Monash Model, a seven-point scale of how remote a location is, from MM1 major cities to MM7 very remote communities. Areas classified MM2 to MM7 are generally DPA, and the whole of the Northern Territory and Tasmania are DPA. The good news for the moratorium is scaling: time spent in more remote areas counts for more and can shorten the years you have to serve. We unpack this in the Modified Monash Model guide and how rural work shortens the moratorium.

Your provider number is the thing that ties registration, the moratorium and billing together - see Medicare provider numbers for overseas GPs. And because the rules and the work differ by state, it is worth thinking early about choosing a state or territory. There are eight to choose from.

Visas and immigration

Registration lets you practise; a visa lets you live and work in Australia. These are separate processes run by the Department of Home Affairs, and they overlap in time with registration. General practitioner sits on the skilled occupation list, which keeps several routes open. Our visa options overview sets out the landscape; the matrix below is the short version.

Money: billing, the MBS and earnings

Australian general practice runs on a different financial model from the NHS. Most GPs are paid as contractors on a percentage of their billings rather than a salary, and they bill against the Medicare Benefits Schedule (the MBS), the national list of subsidised services. How much a patient pays out of pocket depends on the billing model. Our MBS guide and billing models guide go through it properly.

Earnings vary widely and we will not pretend a single headline figure is meaningful. They depend on your hours, your billing percentage, your billing mix and your location, with rural loadings often making a real difference. The honest way to think about it is gross billings first, then your contractor split, then your own tax and superannuation. We work through realistic ranges and the sources behind them in what you can expect to earn, and the employment-status question - which affects tax and super - in contractor vs employee.

The practical move

Registration and visas are the hard yards; the move itself is logistics, and logistics can be planned. The thing that makes it feel manageable is sequencing - knowing what to start first, what can run in parallel, and what has to wait. Primary source verification and your visa can both begin early; a firm job offer usually unlocks employer-sponsored visa steps; the physical move comes last. Our relocation checklist and timeline turns this into a planner you can work through.

Beyond the paperwork, the human side matters: moving your family, schools and settling in, the cost of living compared with the UK, and the day-to-day differences in how you will practise - how general practice differs, PBS prescribing, telehealth rules and care plan items. Once you land, your first 90 days sets the tone.

When it comes to the job itself, choose carefully. The right practice supports an overseas GP through registration, the moratorium and the early months; the wrong one leaves you to sink or swim. It is worth knowing what a good job looks like, how to choose a recruiter, and how to approach your first contract before you sign anything.

Sources

These are the sources behind this guide. Read them directly and confirm anything time-sensitive on the day.

Frequently asked questions